The Indian equity benchmarks were trading on a flat note on Tuesday amid weak cues from global markets. The Sensex traded in a band of 240 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 18,053.90 and low of 17,982.60. The Nifty is close to its importance psychological level of 18,000 and it is likely face some resistance around these levels, analysts said.
As of 9:47 am, the Sensex was up 16 points at 60,412 and Nifty 50 index declined 19 points to 17,984.
Overnight, U.S. stocks fell on Monday despite staging a comeback late in the day, as bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve could raise interest rates as soon as March led investors to pare risky assets and lifted the 10-year Treasury yield to a two-year high. Monday's drop follows a bruising first week of the year when a strong signal from the Fed that it would tighten policy faster to tackle inflation and then data showing a strong U.S. labor market, unnerved investors who had pushed equities to record highs over the holiday period.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.45 per cent, and the S&P 500 lost 0.14 per cent, news agency Reuters reported.
Back home, eight of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by Nifty IT index's 0.6 per cent gain. Pharma, Healthcare, Realty and FMCG shares were also witnessing buying interest.
On the other hand, Metal, Banking, Private Banking, Auto and Consumer Durable indices were trading with a negative bias.
Mid- and small-cap shares were trading flat as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices were largely unchanged.
HCL Technologies was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 1.6 per cent to Rs 1,308. HDFC, NTPC, Tata Consumer Products, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Divi's Labs, Dr Reddy's Labs, Grasim Industries, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Power Grid were also among the gainers.
On the flipside, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Bajaj Finance, Coal India, Bharat Petroleum, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Adani Ports, ICICI Bank, Indian Oil and Hindalco were among the losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,705 shares were advancing while 1,307 were declining on the BSE.
